Council answers questions over Bailey's death

Aberdeen City Council are trying to address parents' concerns, following the death of Bailey Gwynne.

A 16 year old boy has been convicted of killing him at Cults Academy - and he told police he took a knife to school every day.

Officials admit they're limited in what they can say, but point out that the trial heard it had never been reported to staff.

But headteacher did tell the jury she previously had the need to warn him about the dangers of carrying knives.

The local authority also points out that incidents involving weapons and violent incidents in the city are among the lowest in Scotland.

Here are the questions and answers from Aberdeen City Council:

• Does Cults Academy have a major drugs problem? - Cults Academy is one of the highest performing schools in Scotland and does not have a 'drugs problem'. The school has a zero tolerance approach to drugs and teachers are always vigilant for any warning signs. School policies are also clear and the Personal and Social Education (PSE) programme, which is a mandatory part of the curriculum for first to sixth year pupils at all of our secondary schools in Aberdeen, also includes modules warning on the dangers of drugs. - ##### What is the school's policy on bullying?

The school has an anti-bullying policy and actively respond to any concerns from young people. The school's anti-bullying policy can be accessed here Cults Academy Respect Policy. - ##### Why didn't the school stop the bullying?

As stated by witnesses during the court case was no history of bullying in this case and none was reported to the school. - ##### Why didn't the school or teachers know about or find his knives and knuckledusters considering the amount of times he had them in school?

The court heard during the trial it was never reported to the teaching staff of Cults Academy that this pupil was in possession of any weapons, had it been it would have been appropriately dealt with and relevant authorities/action taken. Where any such incidents take place in schools, there are a variety of appropriate responses that will be considered. The safety of pupils is of paramount importance and we actively encourage pupils to report any behaviour of concern to school staff. - ##### Why wasn't there earlier intervention?

In cases such as this and where concern has been previously identified, families are often offered support via a range of agencies including the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration as well Educational and Children's social services. We cannot reveal details about specific interventions because of a duty of confidentiality. - ##### What medical assistance is available in schools?

All schools have trained first aiders as part of their staff. - ##### How can you guarantee the safety of pupils, considering school is supposed to be a safe place for youngsters?

Aberdeen City Council takes school and pupil security very seriously. There is a 5 year programme on enhancing school security, a group meets each term to review school security, and Aberdeen City Council is also working with Police Scotland on this issue. - ##### What policies or procedures have been put in place in the school or council-wide since the incident?

Policies already exist for dealing with violent/dangerous incidents throughout schools and council-wide. Cults Academy operates a Respect Policy, which states 'our aim is to ensure that in their goal to achieve and attain highly each pupil feels valued, respected and safe. Bullying is a wilful, conscious attempt to hurt, to threaten or to frighten someone else and such behaviour is unacceptable in Cults Academy.' - ##### Why aren't you taking part in the No Knives Better Lives campaign? How do you stop knives etc. from being cool?

We have an exceptionally low level of incidents involving knives in Aberdeen schools and little or no history of such crime in the city. This is reflected in the local policing statistics for Aberdeen. As a result, Aberdeen was not one of the minority of local authorities (11) from the 32 across Scotland to take part in the 2009 No Knives Better Lives Scottish Government initiative. Many of the issues that were covered in the campaign are included in our Personal and Social Education (PSE) programme, which is a mandatory part of the curriculum for first to sixth year pupils at all of our secondary schools in Aberdeen. PSE aids pupil development to adulthood and covers themes such as relationships and coping with stress, while there are also clear and established policies in place against bullying. In addition, a new shared fund to provide more school based offices has been established and the existing school-based police team are going to be redesigned to better meet needs. Police Scotland and Aberdeen City Council are also working on a new joint professional training programme for staff.

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